Musings and Photos about Life and Real Estate Development in Post-Industrial Brooklyn and New York City

Sunday, March 30, 2008

On the Sofa: GL Reader Comments

Once a week, we like to look at some of the comments left by readers during the previous seven days. Here are a few random selections from this week's batch:

Toll Brothers Team Talks Up the Gowanus Project. "It was all a bit scary, that group, parading in single file with their renderings and statistics. They were like a team from Walt Disney with visions of the future complete with a shrinking machine and flying cars. I had a mini fantasy of myself: soaking up rays along a processed canal of filtered water, waving to my husband on the Water Taxi to my own private dock, racing with the 8 hour shadow being cast from my glass box. I also saw that maufactured forest of transplanted trees, swaying in an artificial breeze downwind from the unfiltered part of the canal while slipping on my wellies to wade through the flood plane to my above ground parking garage. Sigh...it's just too big, too ambitious..too much what we want, but, not enough of what we need in a realistic context."

Brooklyn's Ugliest Karl Fischer Looking Great. "I love the 2 faux balconies over the entry. Class-o-rama, and such grand vistas of the BQE. The sole good omen for this project, is that it is where Sugar The Cockatoo 'flew the coop' to this past october. It confirms his tastes...Glad there was a bland bright spot to fly to. Thank you, Karl Fischer!!"

With Public Place Work Underway, Safety Questions Remain. "NIMBYs? Do you live in the neighborhood? Are your windows constantly covered with white dust from the concrete factories? Do you smell the stench from the canal? Those of us with children are concerned about heavy metals and other contaminants getting into the air in high concentrations - to toxic conditions directly below the surface are well documented - and if I lived next to or down wind of this site, I'd be very concerned."